I have been back in the States for a month now and had some time to reflect on my last year abroad as well as my current and future plans. All of us, at any point of our lives are either growing or comfortable. You cannot fully have one or the other simultaneously, although you can a little bit of both. I believe it’s important to have periods of growth alternated with periods of comfort.
The Growth
Last year in Brazil was a lot of discomfort and growth. I was in a new place, trying to speak the language, trying to make new friends, trying to do jiu jitsu without any prior connections whatsoever. It’s as if though someone airdropped me in Rio and left me. The result? It was, without a doubt, the best year of my life. I made a lot of friends (in similar situations), learned Portuguese to fluency, was promoted to a new belt by one of the most well known jiu jitsu masters in the world, lived in a large, awesome flat with awesome roommates, and I’m loaded with memories and experiences that I’ll never forget. All just because I bought a one way ticket to a foreign land with absolutely no expectations.
At some point, I had this nagging feeling of wanting to come home. I wanted to see family, reconnect with old friends, be in a place where I didn’t need to constantly be alert or worry about a correct way of saying something in the local language. I couldn’t quite pin point where this low-level feeling was coming from, but I had to listen to it. In many ways, I’ve accomplished everything I’ve set out to do in Brazil and was ready to turn the page.
Which brings me back to the point of this article: a proper balance between growth and comfort is the key to an enriching life.
The Comfort
Now, as I write this, I’m back home in a place where I mostly grew up and went to high school. A place where I used to have a lot of friends to hang out and chase girls. But I’m not that same person anymore. I’m walking around the familiar streets but I feel different. I’m surrounded by people who speak my native eastern European language, but I’m not who they perceive me to be, I’m not one of them anymore. I could be walking alone or get into an unfamiliar situation, but I never feel over my head because chances are I’ve experienced this already in another place.
I’ve met some of my closest friends, and while it’s been awesome on one hand, it’s getting more difficult to relate to their lifestyle. When I come in, I see them living comfortably with cars and fully furnished apartments or houses, while I buy only what I can manage to pack for my next trip.
I have tons of stories to tell, but I end up doing all the talking.
The Lifestyle
Sure you have ups and downs, but for people like me who can’t sit in one place too long, this provides a nice balanced lifestyle. The world is vast and ripped for discovery. I dream of speaking French fluently, studying Judo in Japan or diving in Thailand. And so when the itch of a new challenge begins, the process will repeat itself again of many iterations to come.
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